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Let t e r S (co ntinued) rout out the waste between the pins. I minimize the risk by making sure I've got a sharp router bit, and I take light passes as I near the scribe lines. Government is liberal with accuracy After reading Rules of Thumb #169, p. 86), I became curious about government standards on accuracy. I decided to look them up on the Web, as many manufacturers claim to "".meet Federal specifications for accuracy." When I found the government Web site, I was surprised at how liberal the standards are for measuring devices. How liberal, you say? For "measuring devices," a 'l16-in. error over 6 ft. is acceptable. When the Cooper rep came out to my craft-club meeting, I was enamored with the company's Lufkin Quikread tape. I bought one that week, and it was exactly 'l16 in. off at the 6-ft. mark. I guess I can't complain. (FWW -Vance Burns, via email You are on the right track Since 1986 I have been a subscriber to Fine WOOdw01-king and feel guilty that I have not written before to tell you how much I appreciate your publication. I am near 80 years old and have been an avid woodworker for almost 50 years. There has never been an issue from which I haven't learned something new. Keep up the excellent job you're doing. You always have a good balance of articles that are very educational. Thanks again for what you have done for me in the past and continue to do with each issue. -Bob Damon, Appleton, Wis. Inexpensive alternative to use with abrasives I could not help but notice that in its most recent catalog, Woodcraft is offering machinist's granite surface plates and recommending them as bases for sharpening with wet-or-dry sandpaper. They are nice and flat, to be sure, and so seem to make handy surfaces for the sharpening of plane irons, chisel blades, and such. And I cannot help but think tllat Fine Woodworking deserves some of the blame for this. Let me affirm immediately that I am not one of those people who thinks there is a "right" (or rather "my 10 FINE WOODWORKI G own") way of doing things-far from it. I have taken as much malicious satisfaction as anyone as I have observed the furious "right-way wars" that are periodically waged by readers in your pages-the ongoing battle about tile right way to place a hand plane on a workbench comes immediately to mind as the sort of thing I do not care to participate in. But, to be honest, I have been bothered for some time by the repeated suggestion by your autllors of such a use for surface plates. And now look how you have infected others! I had been intending to write my protestations, but the future of woodworking has always seemed quite secure in your hands, and I never got around to it. But this Woodcraft catalog is the last straw. I take pen in hand, as it were, and leap into tlle fray. I myself am the owner of one of these tools, and when I received it also received a certificate of accuracy and a short caveat from its manufacturer warning that even casual contact with abrasives was a danger to its accuracy. And tllis is the bone I would like to pick on. It just does not seem, well, seemly to use a tool in a way that violates its nature and design. Abrasives are a danger to the accuracy of surface plates, yet you recommend their use in such situations, and tlleir accuracy is precisely tile reason for recommending them in the first place-if tllere is no one "right" way, there certainly can be a wrong way, and I would call it wrong if it is disrespectful to the nature of a tool and destructive of its character. But all is not lost-I have a substitute to recommend. For the very low price of about one dollar, you can buy a small, solid cinder block at any homeimprovement store. Check them out; they are amazingly flat and uniform, readily available, light in weight, need no special care or coddling, are easily and cheaply replaced, and their nature is not harmed by contact with abrasives-they themselves are abrasive. I made a nice little wooden frame for mine, and it has been functioning for quite some time as my all-purpose base for flattening and sharpening with sandpaper. And if it ever wears or cracks, I'll buy another for a dollar. The only danger you might encounter is embarrassment caused by the incredulous stares and frankly abrasive comments you might get from the contractors you could encounter on the check-out line-buying one cinder block will earn you no respect from them and their ilk. -John M. Regarding my vacuum gouge I didn't anticipate the clogging problems described by Ernie Conover (FWW #170 p. 31), but others have dealt with them successfully, and given me feedback. One user has his vacuum mounted on a 55-gal. drum, which he sometimes fills twice a day with green wood debris from the vacuum gouge. Two things cause most clogs. The opening in the gouge is 80% smaller than a 2-in.-dia. vacuum hose, choking off tile air supply. That is solved by allowing more air between the vacuum hose and the gouge. A tube connecting the two can have holes drilled in it, allowing in extra air. The gouge doesn't require much air volume, but larger hoses do and work better than the small hose Ernie is shown using. The second clog producer is the diverter inside the drum of some vacuums, designed to prevent debris from damaging the filter. This diverter can be replaced by a plumbing fitting called a street elbow, which has a smooth curve. If the gouge clogs at tile cutting edge, it is easily cleared after turning off the vacuum. Updated directions on preventing clogs are included with each gouge. (The one Ernie tested was shipped in March of 2003, before I was aware of the problems.) Although I have always offered a satisfaction guarantee, including shipping charges both ways, only two gouges have been returned because of clogging, with over 300 sold. -John O'Neill, CleanTurn Tools, Rochester, Wr.t.nt an art.e.e Fine Woodworking is a reader-written magazine. We welcome proposals, manuscripts, photographs, and ideas from our readers, amateur or professional. We'll acknowledge all submissions and return those we can't publish. Send your contributions to Fine Woodworking, PO Box 5506, Newtown, CT 06470-5506. Dougherty, Edgewater, Md. NY